Don't leave me this way
by kieta-seraphim
Summary: Jensen reflects on his life post-attack and someone decides he needs a kick in the pants. Alternatively titled 'In which Pritchard is a supportive d-i-c-k'.


Title: Don't leave me this way or alternatively 'in which Pritchard is a supportive dick'

Author: kieta_seraphim

Band(s)/Fandom(s): Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Rating: PG-13/T for language

Paring(s): None, hinted JensenxPritchard, but blink and you might miss it

Genre: angstish, humor

Warnings: None

Comments: Something was supposed to go here but then it became irrelevant.

One shot/ chapters: One-shot

Summary: Jensen reflects on his life post-attack and someone decides he needs a kick in the pants.

Word count: 2146

Don't leave me this way or alternatively 'in which Pritchard is a supportive dick'

It was a mess. Adam Jensen looked around his apartment like he hadn't spent the last three months cooped up inside drinking nothing but liquor. It wasn't the only thing that wasn't a mess. His office was no doubt a mess, the same way that he'd left it before the attack. At the moment, his entire life was one giant mess that someone had thrown up and smeared the result everywhere. It wasn't a pretty sight. However Adam wasn't exactly ready to admit that he was quite to that point. His apartment was a mess, check. He hadn't checked his computer in weeks, check. He had the occasional drink but not all day. He was still functioning to a degree.

Padding towards his couch, he flinched slightly at the metallic noises on that floor. He still couldn't quite get used to the fact that it was he who made those noises. His extremities were almost completely violated by the augmentations that Adam had been adamant in his refusal to get. Yet they had saved his life and he was stuck with them. He had to live with them for the rest of his life. Without Megan.

Adam dropped himself down on the couch and flicked the tv on to the only channel that it ever seemed on, Picus TV. Eliza Cassan was still running some story on the Sarif industries attack. Something about how the attackers were still at large. Adam wasn't paying attention it was just white noise to fill the deafening silence.

Metallically colored green-gold eyes flickered over the images projected on the tv screen. He reached up to run his fingers through his hair, ruffling it gently. It had taken him the past three months to just get used to the _iidea/I_ of having augments. That didn't mean he'd quite accepted them. His eyes flickered to the numerous sticky notes he'd written the same phrase over and over. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Once he'd mastered that, he'd moved on to other things; but not before he'd thrown his pen in frustration a few times or broken it, the later was more common.

He flicked the channel on the remote only to have it land on a TV station that was playing light rock music videos. He frowned and was about to change the channel when there was a knock at the door. The knock was so soft; he almost thought he'd imagined it.

Adam stood up and made his way to the door. He was about to call out to his visitor but the door was already opening and he was faced with David Sarif standing in his doorway. "Boss." Adam paused to look at the older man.

Sarif was holding a decent sized stack of papers and walked past Adam. "Look Adam, I know you're recovering but Frank's been bugging me about new security measures. I wanted your input before signing off on them." He dropped the stack of papers onto Adam's living room table.

Following Sarif, Adam looked over the stack. The top piece of paper was a cover sheet. New security measures indeed, Adam mused in his head as he turned back to Sarif. "Need anything else boss?" He questioned, crossing the metallic arms over his chest.

Sarif turned away from the table and walked over to the window, staring out over Detroit, "Just checking up on you, son." Sarif turned back to look over the messy apartment but said nothing about it. "How are you doing Adam?" Sarif asked, eyes briefly roving over Adam's more than disheveled appearance.

The security chief stared at his boss for a moment before answering. "I'm getting by." He replied gruffly.

Sarif through seemed to accept this answer through there was the slightest hint of a frown upon Sarif's face. "Good, get those papers to me later and I'll see you at work in a couple of months Adam." The CEO turned around and exited Adam's apartment.

After the door closed and Sarif had gone, Adam sunk back down on the couch. Angrily, he pushed a button on the remote harder than necessary, almost breaking the thing in half. The channel flicked back to Picus TV, Eliza Cassan was still running that story. Adam flicked the channel again, not caring what it landed on. He was tired of it. He was avoiding it. He had been successful for two months ever since he had first seen his reflection in his bathroom mirror. He'd punched the mirror because he just didn't want to see it. To know that it had been he that survived when Megan had died. It should have been him, not Megan, never Megan.

Blaming David Sarif for his new appearance would have been too easy. He was working for a biotechnologies company that was known for making enhancements, deep in his mind he'd known something like this could happen. He didn't hate David Sarif. It wasn't Sarif's fault. No he hated the guys who killed Megan and her team. Adam would work on catching them if it cost him his life. His grip tightened on the remote at just the thought. However, he still carried a degree of resentment for Sarif. The extent of his injuries hadn't require the rash degree of augmentations that Sarif had thrust upon him without his permission. The without his permission part was what irked him the most. Would he have chosen to get augmented on his own, probably not. He would have consented to what was needed to save his life so he could destroy the bastards that had killed Megan and her team though. The ones that had destroyed all those lives for a reason Adam could pick out of half a dozen ideas.

When the remote made a cracking noise, Adam immediately dropped it back onto his table. He turned his attention to the stack of papers that Sarif had left, lifting the first page up before dropping it back down to where it had been. Maybe the paperwork was just what he needed to get back into some kind of routine. Perhaps not. It'd been three hard months and it could take more than just paperwork.

Two and a half months later, not much had changed. Sure Adam did go in to work to submit paperwork to Sarif. He'd mostly avoided his co-workers. He had no real desire to interact with them just yet. It was a new sensation, hiding from people rather than facing them like he was accustomed to. That wouldn't last much longer though, he would make sure of that.

After arriving back at his apartment one evening, Adam stared at the newly acquired stack of papers that he had retrieved from the office. He'd already read through the stack, there wasn't much to it. He contemplated taking the files back to Sarif, but then decided against it there was always tomorrow.

He turned the TV on. Once again the TV station was playing music. He was going to change the channel but something stopped him. The soft melodious piano sounds were soothing as it blended with the soft voice of the female singer. He truly didn't hear much of the song as he closed his eyes and simply listened. When the music faded, Adam immediately opened his eyes to catch the name of the song and the artist but the information was already gone. Only a few lines of the song stuck in his head but the melody had definitely been nice.

Adam picked the remote up about to change the channel when there was a loud knock at the door. Sarif? No, it couldn't be. He put the remote back onto the table and stood. Walking towards the front door. "Jensen. I know you're there!" A voice shouted from the other side of the door. This peaked his interest. He hadn't expected Pritchard to come to his apartment. "Jensen!" Pritchard shouted again and Adam started walking towards the door again.

"Coming Pritchard." He would have rolled his eyes at the computer technician if it would have helped. The computer tech had set his security protocols and it was more than likely that he could have just barged in.

"Jensen!" Pritchard shouted again from the other side of the door and he seemed poised to bang on it once more as Adam opened the door. Pritchard pulled his hand back just in time to not knock on the Security chief's chest. "You look like shit." He commented dryly as he invited himself into the other man's apartment.

Adam stepped back into his appointment and rolled his eyes as the computer technician. "Nice to see you too Pritchard." He picked up the whiskey bottle to top of the drink he'd had before Pritchard had arrived.

The computer tech stood next to Adam's couch as he took in the apartment around them. It was messy. "Its nice to know you don't wallow in filth all the time."

"Glad I could return some of your confidence in me." He replied dryly taking a sip from his drink before setting it down. "If you're just here to insult me you can just leave Pritchard."

The other man shook his head slightly as he picked up the remainder of Jensen's drink and gulped it down. "Jensen...I...I know you aren't a damsel in distress for me to save." He paused. "The office just isn't quite the same." He paused once more seemingly unsure of what to say next.

Adam stared at the computer technician in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest. "Are you trying to tell me you missed me [i]_Francis_[/I]."

"Yes...I mean no...Yes Jensen, I missed you. Is that what you want to hear?" He leaned back against the couch, the slightest bit of red tinging his cheeks as he avoided Adam's gaze.

That was a new development. He'd never expected Pritchard to miss him, Cindy in reception, Malik and Sarif but never Pritchard. He'd given the computer tech little thought since the attack and thought that Pritchard might be happier without having him and around to explain the flaws in the computer tech's security measures.

"Well don't just stand there like a great big oaf. Say something." Pritchard huffed at him.

Adam uncrossed then re-crossed his arms. "What do you want me to say Pritchard? That I miss you too and I'll just go back to work like nothing happened?" There was the slightest hint of anger to his tone.

"No." Pritchard's tone too had a little anger in it. "No. I want you to get off your ass and stop feeling sorry for yourself." The computer tech pushed his finger into Adam's chest not roughly but with enough force for emphasis.

The chief of security took a long look over the other man, Part of him wondered how his life had gotten so bad that Pritchard who hardly cared about anything but himself and his computers would feel the need to say anything. That was a disappointment in and of itself. "Is that all you came here to say Pritchard?" He asked after the long pause.

Pritchard nodded his head. "I'll show myself out." He turned and headed to Adam's door and making a short pause before exiting Adam's apartment.

Adam found himself simply making his way to his couch and dropping himself down on it.

Two days, or two days, four hours, thirty-one minutes and 12 seconds since Pritchard had dropped by Adam's apartment, the computer tech would deny that he knew the exact time, Adam set foot in Pritchard's office. "You need to re-do these." He dropped the stack of paper on the tech's desk, allowing a few stray sheets to fly upward before simply walking out of Pritchard's office, a small smirk gracing his face.

"Wait...Jensen!" Pritchard shouted after him as Adam kept walking to the elevator. Pritchard just managed to catch up to the elevator just as the doors were about to close. "Jensen!" He shrieked indignantly.

The chief of security smirked as his fingers moved up and down in a wave. "Have fun with those files Pritchard."

Pritchard huffed as he turned away from the elevator. Somehow he had missed this.

/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/

Fin.

As always comments are loved.


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